Clarkson battles back for tie at Rensselaer

Saturday, February 22, 2014 - 11:07 pm

With a strong third-period effort, the Clarkson University Hockey team was able to gain a hard-earned ECAC Hockey point on the road with Saturday's 2-2 tie against Rensselaer at Houston Field House in Troy.

The Golden Knights, who shut out the Engineers at Cheel Arena in late January, gained three of a possible four points against their long-time rival in this season's series. Clarkson, which owns a 17-14-3 overall record and a 10-9-1 conference mark, stands in sixth place in the ECAC Hockey standings two points in front of RPI and three points out of fourth. The Knights close out the regular season hosting Princeton and Quinnipiac at Cheel next weekend.

Clarkson battled back twice against the Engineers on their home ice to snap a three-game losing skid. The Knights outshot RPI (13-13-6, 7-8-5 ECACH) 18-7 in the third period, highlighted by sophomore Kevin Tansey's (Hammond, ONT) fourth goal of the year midway through the stanza. Tansey, who was celebrating his 21st birthday, took a pass in the high slot from senior Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) and fired in the tying goal to make it 2-2 at 12:20.

Clarkson had an excellent opportunity to pull ahead with 2:30 remaining in regulation, but a point-blank shot by senior Matt Zarbo (Grand Island, NY) was snagged by the Engineers' goaltender before it could cross the goal line.

After a scoreless first period, in which RPI doubled up the Knights in shots, 14-7, the Engineers took the opening lead just 1:41 into middle frame on a quick power-play goal by Jacob Laliberte.

Clarkson fought back, however, and tied the game with junior Joe Zarbo's (Grand Island) sixth goal of the year coming at 9:20. Senior Jarrett Burton (Echo Bay, ONT) assisted on the goal, which broke a scoreless stretch of 112 minutes for the Green and Gold.

With less than three minutes remaining in the second period, RPI went back on top with Ryan Haggerty's goal at 17:44.

RPI, which outshot the Knights, 24-12 through the first 40 minutes, ended the game with a 35-32 shot advantage. The Engineers went 1-of-5 on the power play and held Clarkson off the scoreboard in its three man-advantage opportunities.

Sophomore Greg Lewis (Mars, PA), who was making his first start in seven games, kept Clarkson in the game early and finished with 33 stops.